3.4.3 Cultural Variations in Attachment (ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg)

Cultural variations and Societal norms

Collectivist cultures:

Value family, community and working together.

• Common in Eastern countries such as China, India, Japan and Israel.

Individualistic cultures:

Value independence, uniqueness and self-reliance.

• Common in Western countries such as America, Germany and the UK

Meta-analysis:

When researchers compare the findings across many studies to summarise the research.

Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

They conducted a meta-analysis of 32 strange situation studies across 8 different countries.

Meta-analysis:

Comparing the findings across many studies to summarise the research

Found that secure attachments were the most common attachment style.

Observed some cultural differences as attachments varied across countries, suggesting that social norms can influence attachment styles.

Individualistic cultures had a higher percentage of children with insecure-avoidant attachments. Collectivist cultures had a higher percentage of children with insecure-resistant attachments

Attachments vary within countries, suggesting that as well as social norms and cultural differences, other aspects of a person's environment, such as levels of poverty and education, might affect their attachment style